A photovoltaic cell or solar cell converts light energy into electric energy. A standard solar cell includes a transparent substrate, a transparent first electrode, a photoelectric conversion element and a second electrode which are sequentially disposed on a substrate. Typical materials for a transparent substrate are glass and plastic materials.
Recently, flexible solar panels become popular due to their ease of use, portability and versatility. In a flexible solar panel, polymeric materials, particularly polyimide or poly-ethylene-naphtalate (PEN), and thin metal films such as stainless steel sheet are normally used as substrates. However, due to the different properties of polymers, it is impractical to apply the conventional process for a solar panel with glass to the case with a polymeric substrate or a thin metal film substrate. For example, laser scribing which is commonly used for patterning cells cannot be applied onto a polymer or a thin substrate because the heat generated would seriously damage the polymer or the thin substrate.
A standard process of fabricating flexible solar panels usually includes interconnecting several small cells together with metallic ribbons to form a higher voltage solar panel. The reason that most people do not take a monolithic approach when making flexible solar panels is that flexible substrates are too fragile to survive laser or mechanical scribing. Other processes, such as standard photolithography, are too expensive to be used in mass production. Therefore, an alternative process for making a flexible solar panel is desired.